The agreement concluded by the city of New York, which must still be validated by federal justice, only concerns a demonstration, on June 4, 2020 in the Bronx, according to a court document filed on Tuesday in the procedure and released on Wednesday by media.
The police are accused of having used an encirclement technique that day to prevent any movement of the demonstrators, “arrested and charged without just cause, and subjected to excessive force“, according to the court document. In its report, the city commission had looked into this case and had listed in particular complaints against “some policemen getting on vehicles and beating protesters with batons“, the indiscriminate use of tear gas and handcuffing.
Asked by AFP, the New York police responded that these complaints followed “arrests” for some “curfew violations“then in place at 8:00 p.m. and decided by then-Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio after incidents at previous protests. Police add that it was “a hard time“for its agents, in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, and that they had”doing everything to facilitate the right to peaceful expression, while facing acts of lawlessness“. She nevertheless adds to have “redesigned“its policy and training in policing large-scale protests.
